Set Dropbox for Linux to run on startup

First, follow the official documentation to download and install the Dropbox daemon.

Then, run the dropboxd command for the first time to connect your client to your Dropbox account via the web.

Once set up, quit the program.

Then, create a systemd unit to manage the dropboxd daemon:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user.control/

cat << EOF | tee -a ~/.config/systemd/user.control/dropbox.service
[Unit]
Description=Dropbox

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/tdonohue/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

systemctl --user enable dropbox.service

systemctl --user start dropbox.service

To see the logs:

journalctl --user -u dropbox

Add the dropbox.py utility for managing your client

Download https://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/dropbox.py.

mv ~/Downloads/dropbox.py ~/.local/bin
chmod u+x ~/.local/bin/dropbox.py